INFJ Parents

As parents INFJs, much as in their friendships, will tend to look at their relationships with their children as opportunities to learn and grow with someone they care about, while working to achieve a distinctly separate but important goal – raising someone to be an independent, responsible and principled adult. People with the INFJ personality type are unflinching in their devotion to their children, willing to grin and bear any burden without hesitation. While warm and compassionate throughout the parenting relationship, what INFJs are really looking forward to is being able to communicate and relate to the person they helped to raise, as equals.

Be Unique, Just Like Me

As their children grow, INFJs will likely try to project a great deal of their own qualities onto them, demanding the same sort of idealism and honesty that they demand from themselves, and maybe even manipulating them into this in their weaker moments. Despite this, INFJs will also push their children to think independently, make their own choices and establish their own beliefs.

The highest goal for INFJ parents is for their child’s choices and beliefs to culminate in a cause that they are able to act on, contributing to the world around them.

If all this independence is taken to heart, it can cause some trouble for INFJ parents though, as their children move into the naturally rebellious phase of adolescence. If INFJs’ children take a contrarian approach, adopting beliefs that violate their parents’ own well-developed principles, INFJs are likely to feel like their children are pointing out their flaws by following another path, a hurtful thing to such a sensitive personality type.

A Job Well Done

Ultimately though, INFJ parents will realize that these conflicting beliefs aren’t a sign of their failure, but of their success in raising someone who did indeed learn to form their own ideals. As they mature, INFJs’ children will also come to appreciate the combination of independence and personal responsibility they were raised with. So long as their child grows up with a firm understanding of the difference between right and wrong and is able to fight for a cause they believe in, striving to be the best they can be, INFJ parents will be satisfied with what they’ve accomplished together with their child.

This is totally my father. He is an INFJ and this sounds exactly like how he raised me and my sister. Being an INFJ as well, I hope when I have children someday, I'll raise them just as well as he did with me :)

This is an amazing site! It's exactly me for nearly all the time. I've always felt that I was weird in some way, somehow, but it's creepy and yet comforting how there were enough people like me to accurately give information about who I am – who we are. Thanks, 16personalities, for letting me know that I am not alone!

Barbara

3 years ago

My mother is an INFJ type and this sounds so much like her! Really, being raised by a woman like her is a blessing, she's a wonderful mother. Even though we've had arguments over our different values somewhere in our lives, both of us learned and grew with this and now I can firmly state that she's my true best friend, I couldn't be more grateful for being her daughter.

Anna

3 years ago

Awsome, finally I've found why I am the way I am and realizing being sensitive is just one characterisitic I have to manage. It's intriguing to know there aren't many people around with this type of personality.

Anonymous

2 years ago

I thought I had some kind of problem before I took this test, because I am very stubborn when someone tries to get me to say how I feel. If they force me too, they better watch out :)